♪ welcome to tuesday. it's "meet the press daily." i'm chuck todd at the start of a very busy hour all over the country. president trump is about to touch down in kenosha, wisconsin, despite the city's mayor and state's governor pleading with him not to come. later this hour, the president is expected to tour an area that was impacted by protests and recent violence in the city. we'll go there live when that happens. also, friends and family of jacob blake, the black man whose

shooting by police more than a week ago sparked unrest in kenosha are gathering for their own rally. they're encouraging people to come together for a peaceful community event during the president's visit. a lot of people concerned the president's visit could park more problems, not quell -- not create calm. treasure secretariy steve mnuchin is about to face house members about the economic reresponse to the coronavirus. this is the special coronavirus congressional task force. opening statements are set to begin shortly and we'll get to that as well. and this is all happening as the difference between the two presidential nominees on this issue of violence and unrest is becoming increasingly stark. biden, while accusing trump of fanning the flames of unrest in this country also condemned violence and destruction on both ends of the political spectrum. president trump seems to be defending violence that emanates from people that support him, including refusing to condemn the alleged trump supporter who has been charged with first-degree homicide after shooting and killing two protesters in kenosha.

that's the backdrop of what could be a very, very unsettling day. joining me on the ground in kenosha is shaquille brewster. kasie hunt, ali vitali and robert costa. let me start on the ground with you, shaq. obviously, the mayor didn't want the president there. the governor didn't. this isn't a natural disaster. this is something different, and there's fear that this could become a magnet for unrest with what the president either does or says. what efforts are being made to keep this as peaceful as possible? >> well, it's really an effort led by the family who is joining community leaders, religious leaders, protest leaders at the site where jacob blake was shot over a week ago. we've seen reverend jesse jackson. you may have seen him cross through behind me. we've seen congressman gwen

moore, community leaders and we saw the uncle of mr. blake speak and address the media here. what their message is, they are asking for a pause to protests today. they want the focus to be on community healing. you have essentially a block party vibe. there's a bouncy house, food, voter registration. they're trying to get people and draw people here away from the president because they don't want that clash that you norm normally would expect with a presidential visit. there was one community leader who explained it to me as they don't want to become a backdrop for president trump's next commercial. they're doing whatever they can to keep people away. the situation here in kenosha is tense. you still have that mobilization of the national guard. 1,000 members from the wisconsin national guard are deployed. they've been deployed for about a week at this point. several days notably before president trump said that he was going to send in the national guard. we also know 500 national guard members from three different states are also here in

wisconsin. so there's still that presence. there's a curfew that extends through the holiday tension the. that's why you have the family and community leaders saying let's step away, take a break from the protests and focus on community healing. that's what you're seeing at the scene where jacob blake was shot about a week ago, chuck. >> shaquille brewster getting us started in kenosha, thanks very much. the big coronavirus hearing, the special task force on the congressional side that's been doing their best overseeing the coronavirus response both on an economic and medical basis. steve mnuchin is testifying today. the chairman of this special committee is jim clyburn and i believe he is speaking now. let's go to the start of that. >> -- chat function or email to facilitate formal verbal recognition? committee staff will make sure i'm made aware of the request

and i will recognize you. we will begin the hearing in just a moment when they tell me they are ready to begin the live stre stream. >> we're -- >> good afternoon. >> kasie hunt on capitol hill. well -- all right. i'm going to give you -- give us a 30-second preview and we'll dip back in as soon as they start speaking. >> this, i think, is going to focus quite a bit on the loan program so many businesses have relied on because democrats really feel there were a lot of potential holes in it and possible problems. we saw a report this morning talking about instances they allege of fraud and other places where perhaps the treasury department didn't do the due diligence they would like. but, of course, mnuchin has also played a critical role as the

key republican negotiator in coronavirus relief talks, and he actually has been something of a partner for democrats. so i'm looking to see how that dynamic plays out here, especially between clyburn and mnuchin here at the top. chuck? >> kasie hunt, appreciate the quick preview. now the hearing is truly under way. >> it's fundamental, i think we can't say it enough. tragically, seven months since the first case was discovered on our shores, the course of this coronavirus continues to be devastating. nearly 6 million americans have tested positive for more than 182,000 americans have died, far more than any other nation on earth. this summer, while most of other countries were successfully containing the virus, the united

states saw a surge in cases and deaths. and we know why. instead of leading with a national strategy, the white house pushed states to reopen without a plan to keep people safe. instead of communicating public health guidance, the president claimed the virus would -- and i quote here -- sort of just disappear, i hope. these failures are costing hundreds of americans' lives every day. just as the federal reserve described the failure to address america's health crisis has also caused an unprecedented economic crisis that has left many americans out of work and struggling to feed their families and pay housing costs. the most recent data showed the

unemployment rate was 10.2% at the end of july, higher than the worst month of the great recession and its aftermath. as of august 1st, 29 million americans were receiving or waiting for unemployment benefits. unemployment claims are more than ten times higher than they were at the beginning of the year and show little sign of returning to normal levels any time soon. of course, some jobs lost at the beginning of the pandemic have returned as certain businesses have reopened. that is a good thing. the administration has claimed this partial rebound means we are guaranteed a v-shaped economic recovery where the economy returns to full strength

quickly. but the evidence does not bear that out. we continue to see roughly 1 million americans file new unemployment claims every week. a clear sign that the economy remains in serious trouble. and rather than a v-shaped recovery, economists have warned we face an uneven k-shaped recovery where the wealthy quickly bounce back to pre-pandemic prosperity while lower income families continue to suffer economic harm. in july, former fed chairs ben bernanke and janet yellen testified before the subcommittee. quoting from their joint written statement, lower paid workers, as well as women and minorities,

are overrepresented in the most affected sectors and, thus, have borne a disproportionate share of the job and income losses. end of quote. today's hearing is a call to action. the most important step we can take to fix the economy in the long term is to get the pandemic under control. but american families are hurting now and there are urgent steps the administration must take to prevent our nation's economic crisis from becoming a catastrophe. first, additional fiscal stimulus is urgently needed. many of the safety nets congress established in the c.a.r.e.s. act have expired. and millions of americans are now facing eviction, debt and

hunger. as a pandemic drags on, states, cities and businesses are warning that more layoffs may be coming. on may 15th, more than three months ago, house democrats passed a comprehensive bill to address these problems. the heroes act would extend $600 weekly unemployment benefits, help families with food and housing assistance and support state and local governments and the millions of essential workers they employ. republicans rejected the bill. when the house offered to meet them in the middle, the compromise proposal, republicans rejected that, too.

instead, the president offered a fake solution, executive orders that give the appearance of action but were clearly insufficient to address the economic peril americans face. secretary mnuchin, i hope you will return to the negotiating table prepared to find common cause on legislation that meets the present needs of america's families and communities that are hurting from this crisis. second, the treasury department must improve its implementation of relief programs passed by congress. so far, the administration has prioritized big businesses over small businesses and the american workers that congress intended to protect.

the administration needs to refocus the paycheck protection program, payroll support for the airline industry and other relief programs to ensure that they are preserving jobs, not lining the pockets of wealthy executives. third, treasury must improve oversight and accountability to ensure that taxpayers' dollars are not squandered. today the select committee is releasing a staff report raising serious concerns about potential waste, fraud and abuse in the paycheck protection program. based on an analysis of the treasurer data, the subcommittee identified more than 10,000

loans to companies that received multiple ppp loans, a violation of the program's terms. thousands of other loans were awarded to companies that were ineligible for the program or had red flags indicating potential fraud. secretary mnuchin, i think you previously testified that given the need to get relief money out quickly, it was inevitable that treasury, and i quote, ran into a lot of issues. end of quote. that is a false dichotomy. taxpayers should not have to choose between quickly getting aid to those who need it and wasting federal funds. and there are simple steps that could have been taken to improve oversight and reduce fraud.

our report makes recommendations for steps that treasury can still take to safeguard taxpayer money, including improving the agency's weak audit plan for ppp. as i have said before, the purpose of our oversight is not to cast blame for past failures but to make improvements to ensure future success. i hope this hearing will be an opportunity for democrats and republicans to come together to acknowledge the serious problems americans face and identify real solutions. thank you. and in the ranking member's absence, i now yield to mr. jordan or a republican member he may designate for an opening statement.

mr. jordan, i think you may need to unmute. we see you, but we can't hear you. please unmute. >> i thought i had it unmuted. thank you, mr. chairman. i was unmuted but don't know how it got muted back. thank you for joining us. it's unfortunate that the chairman criticizes your work in this unprecedented time we find ourselves. $3 trillion package that congress put together with your leadership, president trump's leadership, $500 billion total dollars in the ppp program, 5 million loans you made that helped 85% of the small businesses around this country. 51 million jobs and you come here and get criticized by the chairman.

i want to thank you for the great work that you have done. it's unfortunate the chairman didn't take into account the fact the ranking member was not going to be available for today's hearing. but we appreciate the fact, mr. secretary, that you're here and you're willing to provide testimony again, about the treasury extraordinary response to the virus and what this virus did to our economy. the trump administration's work combath this virus and this crisis is unprecedented from the beginning. speaker pelosi and the democrats stood in the way of the president. the congressional democrats were focused on their impeachment sham. the president was starting a task force to combat the virus. when the speaker said san francisco is fine, the president was blocking travel from china. when mayor de blasio and new yorkers said, quote, about about your lives, the president was starting research on a vaccine. while vice president biden has been locked in his basement, the president built the world's leading testing system from scratch. we heard from dr. fauci himself about the -- how the president's actions saved lives. we heard a lot about science and

following the recommendations of the cdc and the guidelines that they've put forward that have been nice if the state of new york had done the same where for 46 days, governor cuomo sent covid and positive patients back into nursing homes and resulting in all kinds of tragedy for the individuals and families of those folks who lived in those facilities. when the economy shut down, it was tough. it was difficult. people could not -- their business. couldn't go to church, schools. the president knew help was required and in just ten days, again, working with you, mr. secretary, congress passed the largest spending relief bill in the history of the country. in that legislation was the paycheck protection program which extended, as i said, 5 million loans through 6,000 vendors totalling over $5 billion. direct help to small business owners and families and individuals across this great country. and due to your hard work and

the administration, the ppp was stood up in just hours and ran out of money in less than two weeks. the president and congressional republicans went to speaker pelosi to ask for money. she wanted to bail out democrat-run cities instoed stead of helping small businesses. leader mcconnell had a bill. didn't get a vote until june when mr. roy introduced a bill that would replenish the fund and make it even more helpful to businesses on the ground. the ppp stood empty because of the beltway games from the democrats. but the ppp program, which supported 51 million jobs and 85% of the small businesses in america, how many more faltered while the democrats held the additional support hostage? 15 days after the c.a.r.e.s. act, treasury began distributing direct checks to individuals and families. a few months later, you had successfully distributed 120 million checks by direct deposit. 35 million paper checks and 4 million prepaid debit cards for a total of almost $270 billion.

again, unprecedented. next you successfully implemented the payroll support program. $32 billion in loans direct to the airline industry in support of hundreds of thousands of jobs. amazingly, the application for this program was ready in a matter of hours. again, unprecedented. finally, you directed $150 billion straight to the states and localities. treasury allocated all of this, but much of it still remains unspent by the states. new york state has only spent 53%. governor cuomo asked for more. michigan only spent 8% but governor whitmer asked for more. speaker continues to say states don't have the money, but they do. every state has money available to them because of the trump administration. it's not to say everything was perfect. but we need to remember the federal government and the quick response that we were trying to get and actually did achieve, there's going to be a few mistakes when you approve $3 trillion and expect the federal

government to get it out the door to people in a matter of days, of course there may be a few mistakes. what should be commended, though, is the hard work done to correct those mistakes. these programs saved and continue to save jobs. eventually the best way to stimulate an economy, the absolute best way to stimulate and grow our economy is to let people go back to work. and when it was time, the president led the charge to reopen the country, get americans back to work and get our kids back to school. we are seeing a steady decrease in unemployment, a steady increase in jobs. the president built the greatest economy in the world once before. and i know we can do it again. mr. secretary, again, thank you. i look forward to asking questions. mr. chairman, i yield back. oh, i do ask this. mr. chairman, i'd ask unanimous consent we enter the republican report on the paycheck protection program which, as i said, supported 51 million jobs and 85% of the small businesses out there across the country. i'd ask unanimous consent that be made part of the record. >> without objections, it will

be done. thank you, mr. jordan. i would now like to introduce our witness. today the select committee is pleased to welcome the honorable steven t. mnuchin, secretary of the treasury. thank you, mr. secretary, for being here today. will you please stand so i may swear you in. please raise your right hand. do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god? you may be seated. please let the record show the witness answered in the affirmative. without objection, your written statement will be made part of the record. secretary mnuchin, you are now recognized for your opening statement.

>> chairman clyburn, members of the subcommittee, i'm pleased to join you here today to discuss the department of treasury's response to covid-19 pandemic. for the last five months, treasury have been working hard to provide fast and direct economic assistance to american workers and their families. we remain committed to making sure that every american gets back to work as quickly as possible. the bipartisan c.a.r.e.s. act is the biggest economic relief package in american history. economic relief totalling nearly $3 trillion which is approximately 15% of gdp is having a tremendous impact on the economy leading to increases in jobs, retail sales, business activity and home sales. i also want to thank chairman powell and the federal reserve for substantial work executing 13 unique 13 three lending facilities. for the third month in a row, the jobs report exceeded forecasts with a gain of 1.8

million jobs in july. this brings the three-month total to more than 9 million jobs, meaning over 40% of jobs do that were lost have been recovered. the job openings and labor turnover surveys suggest the job market has continued to strengthen with the ratio of unemployed persons dropping by nearly one-fourth in june. we also see signs of strengthening economic recovery across industries. retail sales increased in july for the third consecutive month signaling consumer spending on goods has recovered. the ism manufacturing survey indicated growth for the second consecutive month. both satisfying increased business activities. the housing market has nearly returned to prepandemic levels fueled by strong housing starts and existing home sales in july. leisure and hospitality firms among the business hardest hit by the pandemic hired 592,000 workers in july, indicating

confidence in the economy reopening. while we continue to see signs of a strong economic recovery, we are sensitive to the fact there is more work to be done and certain areas of the economy require additional relief. when it became clear that previous negotiations were not moving forward, the president took executive action to provide critical relief to americans through lost wage assistance and other important items. we will continue to work with the senate and house on a bipartisan basis for phase 4 relief package. i believe a bipartisan agreement still should be reached and would provide substantial funds for schools, testing, vaccines, ppp for small businesses, continued enhanced unemployment benefits, child care, nutrition, agriculture and the u.s. postal service, along with liability protection for universities, schools and business. we have released a significant

amount of information on our website, treasury.gov, and are providing more information on usaspending.gov. we have also provided regular updates to congress with this marking my fifth appearance before congress for a c.a.r.e.s. act hearing. additionally, we are cooperating with various oversight bodies, including three inspector generals, the new congressional oversight commission, and the gao. treasury and the internal service have made data and information regarding millions of economic impact payments available on the websites. the department heads disclosed all support payments to airlines and other programs on treasury.gov. we've also posted extensive documentation related to coronavirus relief fund payments to state, local and tribal governments on our website. we're also pleased that the federal reserve has posted loan information on its website regarding its lending facilities. we appreciate the subcommittee's interest in these issues and have devoted significant resources to responding to each

of the inquiries. we remain committed to working with you to accommodate congress' legislative need and to further our whole of government approach to defeating covid-19. i would like to thank the members of the committee for working with us to provide vital economic relief to the american people. i would be pleased to answer any questions you may have. >> thank you very much. mr. secretary, i wish to yield myself five minutes. before we can fix the economy, we have to acknowledge the scale of the problem. on july 2nd, president trump declared our economy is roaring back. it's coming back extremely strong. he also predicted that the

economy will have a fantastic third quarter. today we begin the last month of the third quarter. there's only one wall street with a small percentage of people, but this chart shows that there are 27 million american workers still receiving unemployment insurance. this is as of august 8th. three weeks ago. that is more than ten times the number of americans receiving unemployment benefits before the pandemic. and since august 8th, more than 2 million american workers have

filed new unemployment claims. but secretary, do these record high unemployment numbers indicate that our economy is coming back extremely strong with a fantastic third quarter? >> mr. chairman, let me first say we're in unprecedented situations where we closed down the entire u.s. economy. so this is not like a normal economic crisis. i am having a tough time reading your graph from here, but let me just comment, there's 16 million people unemployed, down from 24. people thought we were going to have 40 million unemployed which fortunately we never had, and the continuing unemployment claims are 14.5 million as of august 15th. so i do think the economy is recovering very strongly, but let me just say, there are still areas of the economy, no fault to small businesses or our workers, that needs more help to

recover. >> well, i don't want to quibble about the numbers. i don't know as of the 8th. these numbers we have here are as of august 8th. so maybe it's been that big a drop since august 8th. at that point, we indicated that there were about 27 million americans who were out of work and on unemployment assistance. now many economists have warned that as relief measures expire, as you know, that unemployment has expired, unemployment -- the supplement that we provided has expired, things will get even worse unless congress enacts additional fiscal stimulus. just last week, former chair

janet yellen -- fed chair janet yellen, stated that without congressional action, and i'm quoting her here, americans will suffer and the overall economy could degrade from its current slow rebound and growth to no growth at all, end of quote. yet the administration has refused to agree to the heroes act or to any meaningful compromise to protect american families. when asked by this committee whether $1 trillion relief package as republicans have proposed would be sufficient, chairman yellen replied, and i quote, i would be concerned about capping it when we know the needs of the state and local governments alone come close to that. and a substantial amount would

also be needed for unemployment insurance for the public health needs, end of quote. chair ben bernanke agreed, telling us that congress needs to do whatever it takes to address the economic crisis. mr. secretary, will you commit to working in good faith with the congressional democrats on an agreement that does whatever it takes to assist struggling americans to end this crisis? >> mr. chairman, let me say, i very much agree with you and those other experts that more fiscal response is needed. the president and i want to move forward with more fiscal response and let me just say, the expiration of enhanced unemployment insurance is something that we are concerned about. i am very proud of the last two bills in the senate, passed 96-0

and 100-0. that's the definition of bipartisan support. i said in my opening testimony, i believe that republicans and democrats need to work together to have additional support. as you know, i've worked very closely on these before. i'm prepared to sit down with the speaker at any time to negotiate. i think the issue is not what is the top line. i think the issue is we need now support quickly. that's what's important to the american economy. and if we need to do more, we can come back. so again, i want to emphasize the president and i do support additional fiscal response, and we've been working hard to try to get a negotiated agreement on a bipartisan basis. >> well, thank you very much for that. my time has expired and so hopefully we have -- i think we have a second round. i do have one or two more questions. with that, mr. jordan?

>> we're going to sneak in a quick break here. the president has landed in wisconsin. the attorney general bill barr is accompanying him on this trip. you heard their first round of questioning there from congressman clyburn of treasury secretary mnuchin. congressman clyburn relying heavily on the president's words. secretary mnuchin trying to deflect answering directly on some of the president's comments about the economy. but with that, let's sneak in a quick break and we'll check out things on the ground in wisconsin when we come back. [ sighs ] hey! hey man! you're here. you don't trust me here is vegas, do you? well... i thought we had a breakthrough with the volkswagen. we did. yes. we broke through. that's the volkswagen! that's the cross sport. wow. seatbelts. ♪ please, just tell me where we're going. ♪

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welcome back. president trump is on the ground in the midwest on his way to kenosha, wisconsin. still with us, ali vitali. the president coming with bill barr, the attorney general. that certainly sends a specific message of law enforcement, that's for sure.

>> yeah, and it matches the theme he's had over the course of the last few weeks, certainly, which is law and order. the president always going to the center of wherever the national crisis is, whether it's a natural disaster. we've seen him visit storm centers. whether it'f the pandemic and going to kenosha, despite the fact you've seen community leaders say they don't want trump or biden to be visiting at this point because they're in the midst of dealing with the aftermath of yet another black man being shot by police. the president nonetheless going there, explicitly saying that he's going there to support law enforcement. it's the exact opposite, frankly, of what we've seen from vice president joe biden who has tried to say that, yes, he supports the law enforcement but at the same time, he supports the protesters. biden has tried to do sort of a dual messaging thing in these recent weeks talking about being against violence and trying to combat what trump has said repeatedly which is that he's soft on crime. so biden really leaned in

yesterday on this national brand that he's built for himself over the last few decades saying at one point, look at me. do i really look like someone who sympathizes with radicals and rioters? that's something very few politicians are able to do and something joe biden has been doing. we'll probably see more of that as the president continues on with baseless claims, things that aren't steeped in fact and, of course, continuing to quote conspiracy theorys. that's something biden has shown he's not going to let it stand and is going to combat it in realtime. >> robert costa, the president, i think what has a lot of people nervous about the president's visit today is his unwillingness to condemn the right wing vigilante who shot and killed two protesters. here's the president asked about it last night and again refusing to condemn. take a listen. >> a person was on a plane said that there were about six people like that person, more or less,

and -- >> kyle rittenhouse? >> we're looking at all of it. that was an interesting situation. you saw the same tape as i saw. and he was trying to get away from them, i guess, it looks like, and he fell and they violently attacked him. and it was something that we're looking at right now and it's under investigation, but i guess he was in very big trouble. he probably would have been killed. but it's under investigation. >> do you also want to take this chance to condemn what your supporters -- >> i have large numbers of people that were supporters but that was a peaceful protest. and paint is not -- paint is a defensive mechanism. paint is not bullets. >> so robert costa, the president there essentially encouraging vandalism. paint is not, there at the end. i don't think we realize how alarming it is the sitting

president of the united states is not only not condemning violence, but seems to be defending it. >> it's alarming language, chuck. but as a reporter, you also wonder, who is he speaking to? i've spent a lot of time on the ground in the milwaukee suburbs in that whole area, kenosha in the southeast corner of wisconsin. that's where elections are often won and lost in wisconsin. i spent a lot of time there in 2016. and you see a real racial disparity in the milwaukee area. many black americans living in the downtown milwaukee area than the suburbs, waukesha and down toward kenosha out to janesville toward madison to the west. very white. and when i would talk to many voters there in the white suburbs of wisconsin in 2016, they were coy about who they were supporting. it would take four or five questions at times for them to reveal that they were then -- that they were for then-candidate donald trump. and that law and order message worked in many ways for scott walker. this is scott walker territory

and his gubernatorial runs. it worked for president trump in 2016. and wisconsin isn't just milwaukee and madison. it has a vote-rich suburban area that's also very white. >> robert, what you are implying is this is a campaign stop. that the president has no interest in calming things down. he's trying to do a show of force for those suburban voters you're describing that he wants to win over. he's viewing this as almost like a one state, an issue that he thinks helps in this one state and as far as he's concerned it's one state at a time? >> not implying it. i'm actually just stating it. this is a stop by the president of the united states during the campaign season in the final 60 or so days before the election. and he's choosing to go to wisconsin. he knows this is a state that is critical for him. and it's a state where the suburbs are going to be critical. these are the voters, chuck, in wisconsin, the wisconsin republicans more in that scott

walker, paul ryan mold. that traditional republican, the republican may be a little uneasy about many of the president's decisions and his conduct. for him to come there and to emphasize law and order, he's playing to that aversion in those milwaukee suburbs to that madison wing of wisconsin politics, the more left wing side of wisconsin politics. >> shaquille brewster, i know you're still with us. it does seem as if there is a nervousness in kenosha about the politics of all of this. that seems to be different than what you saw in minneapolis. i'm curious. compare the sort of how you would describe the political nervousness of kenosha versus what you saw on the ground following the george floyd protest? >> that's really hard to say chuck. when you talk to people specifically about president trump's visit, you have people who say, who repeat what you hear from the mayor of kenosha,

from the governor who say, yes, this is not the time. that things are still too tense. still that national guard presence here. there's still that tension on the ground. emotions are still high. maybe he should wait a little bit before he comes. but i spoke to plenty of people who were inviting the president to come saying it's important that he see the outrage that's on the ground. it's important that he see what happened, the results of the riots in the early days of these protests. so it's really hard to get a sense of what the political mood is and how this situation has shifted things. we know kenosha. this is a place and a county that president obama won twice and president trump won in 2016 by just fewer than 300 votes. so it is fertile ground for him and for any candidate that decides to come out here. and there's that understanding here. but, chuck, i do want to say, one thing i continue to hear from members of the community, relinguous leous leaders, prote

leaders. one reason they're having this rally is because they said -- multiple people have said it to me. they do not want to become the backdrop to a president trump campaign commercial. they want to get away from that. they want to draw people here and keep them away from that downtown scene where the president will be going and meeting with members of law enforcement. so there's that nervousness there and you see efforts among community leaders to do what they can to keep those two separated. keep the politics away from the outrage over the shooting of mr. blake. chuck? >> robert, ali and shaq, if you can stick around. i'm going to sneak in another break. we await the president's arrival in kenosha. we'll go back to wisconsin when that happens. up ahead, more breaking news. facebook claims to have busted a band of hackers employing digital dirty tricks ahead of the presidential election. stick around. we'll tell you more about it. e t then currency came along. they made it out of copper, gold, silver, wampum.

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correspondent ken dilanian. when i hear the words internet research agency and facebook, you think, oh, man. here we go again. i guess my curiosity is, how did facebook catch them,them? and how quick did they get caught? the bad news is the agency is alive and well, enter fearing in our election. the good news in this case is they caught this early based on an fbi tip that appropriate originated with the national security agency. this fake network got very little tractioner we're only talking about 13 facebook pages, a couple hundred followers. what facebook's top cyber-official said is the russians have had to change their tactics, being more stealthy. the nsa and fbi is looking for

them, facebook is, twitter is. by becoming more stealthy, it limits their audience and they're not breaking through. that's the good news. the bad news is he told me he expects some kind of october surprise, a hack-and-dump operations by the russians, because they are not breaking through, and they are still very much trying to interfere in our election. they have not been deterred by the trump administration, todd the implication here is they were recruiting americans to write their stories. they were using russians -- >> i think it was more british freelanc freelancer, but that's right, they paid unwitting freelance journalists to create posts. in this case far left content, some of it critical, designed to drop left-wing people away from the mainstream democratic party.

it was a harkening back to the old days of propaganda. they were just starting to build their audience when fbi flagged it to facebook and facebook took it down. i want to ask you about the announcement over the weekend that the office of the director of national intelligence will no longer provide verbal briefings or in-person briefings, they will all be done in writing. when director radcliff, who was a member of congress, he implied the reason he was pulling it back is that the democrats over-hyped the rush asia news, he indicated china was a greater threat than russia. he did not say that china was actively interfering, where the reports are supposedly russia s

is. >> he was clever with his answer there the issue is that -- disinformation they're not actively intervenings russia is, according to the intelligence. >> i'm glad you noticed the interesting way the director of the national intelligence worded the chinese story. it was one of those, it was pretty often he was trying to deflect the real issue we're facing right now. ken dilanian, thank you. if it's tuesday, somebody is voting somewhere. today is massachusetts senator ed markey, one of the longest serving members of congress, is

being opposed by a member of the kennedy family. it's interesting here, garrett, the old guy winning the young voters, the young guy hoping to win older voters who have a memory of kennedy. it's almost like bernie sanders is facing pete buttigieg. >> you have ed markey is the son of a milkman winning some of the upskate white voters, and joseph kennedy targeting working-class voters, blue collar and union voters in particular. this is a race that's happening in the upsidedown. to make it even weirder. here you have 900,000 votes already cast by mail. there's perhaps between 15%, 30% of the vote left to the cast. all of that has thrown the race into some confusion here.

if ire joe kennedy, you have no idea what the election day vote is what it's look like. i spoke to him very briefly, is and he summed up the whole reason for his candidacy. take a listen. >> running and challenging the nothing that we can do better against a man who i respect, but who has been in office for nearly 50 years, somebody said it's been 50 years, and this is what we have, it's time to find something new. >> it's interesting, chuck, i was at an ed markey, and one of his slogans is sticking with ed. ed markey has been the guy, he's

doing fine. i've heard that from other voters,ic like what joe kennedy and what his family stands for, but ed markey hasn't don't anything that makes me want to fire him. >> the kennedy name is not new. how much that also might have impacted those things there. it's been fascinating, everything you think is up is down, and vice versa. a little campaign trail action s thank you all being with us this hour, a truncated one, if you will. a lot of busy news going on. we're back tomorrow with more "meet the press daily." we continue with katy tur, with the president in kenosha, after this break. e president in kenos this break

good afternoon, i'm katy tur. we are watching two developing stories. the president is visiting wisconsin this afternoon, despite repeatedly being asked not to come. his trip to kenosha follows his defense of the armed teenaged vigilanti, accused of killing two people next week. he's told reporters he's going to wisconsin, a swing state he wants to win, to